Drugs with black box warnings

Why do Drs give us meds that can do more harm than good??This is just a example>Actos ,Avandia, a widely prescribed diabetes drug has been linked to a significantly higher risk of heart attacks and death from cardiovascular causes according to a research analysis of 42 studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine on May 21, 2007. The study prompted the FDA to issue a Safety Alert the same day.

Avandia, generically known as rosiglitazone, and made by GlaxoSmithKline, was found to be associated with a 43% increased risk of heart attack and a 64% increased risk of death from cardiac related causes. The results are based upon an analysis of 15,560 patients who took Avandia and a control group of 12,283 patients who received placebos or other drugs. Avandia was approved in 1999 for treatment of type 2 diabetes, which affects approximately 18 to 20 million Americans. Warning Details The request from FDA for a black box warning for the labels of Avandia and Actos involved only increased risk for heart failure associated with the medications, not increased risk for heart attacks (Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times, 6/7). Von Eschenbach said that "these drugs were being prescribed to patients with significant heart failure," despite current warnings on the labels of the treatments (Rubin, USA Today, 6/7).

He said that FDA has not reached a conclusion about whether Avandia and Actos increase risk for heart attacks and continues to analyze related trial data. An FDA advisory committee this summer plans to address the issue .

4 replies

This is exactly why I shy away from drugs to treat my diabetes. I feel that I still have a choice to control it with diet and exercise...I saw what statins did to my mom. When they list those side effects you need to take them seriously. My primary Dr says it is just exchanging a symptom for a toxin too often. So he helps my family try to control our health with supplements or more natural directions. I am so thankful for him in that way. Sometimes I feel like I am turning into a froot-loop person, but all natural is better...though you have to be careful there too. Natural is not regulated and they too can be dangerous.

I am not a lawsuit kind of person either. It is highly over used and I guess more misused than anything else. If there is a warning, heed it. That is the best advice.
My husband was on a medicine for two weeks (we couldn't afford the full perscription) to lower his cholestorol. Six months later, he went for his blood work, and they found his liver had reacted very poorly to it. Just imagine if we had used it for a month?!Or worse, refilled it. YIKES!
Now we use red yeast rice, polycosinole, vinegar tabs and similar things to help. Plus now, he is eating healthier with me, and that helps. We will see at his next test. That scared me to death to see that happen, and my mom had the weakenss symptoms of using a statin. She only took it for a few days, and it took her from exercising daily, to barely able to get out of bed for a long time. It is scarry. I think we as a generation, depend on drugs to fix things, but in reality, it just takes a lot of hard work, discipline and dillegance.
There is a place for drugs and I know that they do help...I am not down on anyone who uses them. Maybe I think that way because I can't afford them and it is my rationalization. LOL

I was givin a drug 2 year ago that has a black box warning.1 year after I started taking it I got diabetes & had gained about 50 lbs..Just found out a few days ago that this med has caused over 15,000 thousand people to get diabetes & they also gained alot of weight.I had no history of diabetes in my family.The sad part there 60% sure that this may have caused me to have type2.The FDA is reviewing this drug now because of all of the law suits against the company that made it..JU